Maternal perceptions of childrens weight status

Methods

Data were collected in a school-based study (school year 2009/2010) in northern Portugal with 499 urban children (236 girls; 47.3%).

Body mass index was calculated from measurements of height and weight [body mass (kg)/height (m2)]. Mothers' perceptions of child's weight status, age, height and weight were accessed by a questionnaire.

Children's age, gender and socio-economic status were extracted from the schools' administrative record systems.

Cohen's Kappa was used to analyse the misperceptions and the agreement between children's objectively measured weight status and mothers' perception of their child's weight status.

Results

The prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity in children was 4.6%, 25.5% and 6.4%, respectively.

A proportion of 65.2% of underweight and 61.6% of overweight/obese children were misclassified by their mothers.

For the majority of variables presented, the values of agreement were fair (k ranged from 0.257 to 0.486), but were statistically significant.

Significant differences in the percentages of mothers who correctly classified their children's weight status were only found among the most educated in the overweight/obese group and among the normal-weight mothers in the underweight group.